A new mechanic has been added! Players can how collect toast (up to 2), and eject them to use a special ability. Only one special ability can be equipped at a time via the Workshop. Abilities are unlocked by using points. Points are earned by beating missions, with the harder missions offering more opportunities to earn points.
There are currently four abilities to unlock:
Dash - Dash in mid-air, allowing for a change in momentum without an electrical object
Grapple Boost - Grapple speed is increased by 25% for 5 seconds.
Invincibility - The player is invulnerable to damage for 5 seconds (Not super useful right now, but will be)
Teleport - The player will instantly teleport to the grapple location for 5 seconds
There are a lot more abilities planned, but these should give players more creative ways to beat the missions as fast as possible. The idea with the abilities is to allow players to play around within the levels and find interesting paths/mechanics that come out of it. For example, when invincible, players can take advantage of the fact that water launches you high in the air when you touch it. Normally, this would deal 50 hp to the toaster, but with the powerup, this is completely mitigated. I'm excited to see what people do with just these 4!
Again, abilities are unlocked by collecting points. Whenever you beat a level, you are awarded a certain number of points based on the following criteria:
Star Bonuses - If you beat a mission and accomplish a star milestone for the first time, you earn 200, 300 and then 500 points for each star respectively.
Time Bonus - If you beat the mission under the 3 star milestone, then you get points for every second under the milestone
Health Bonus - You get points equal to your remaining HP
Style Bonus - You get points if you do cool things. Currently, you earn points if you are moving fast while not grappling. There will be more ways to earn style points added soon,
Completion - You get a flat amount of points when you beat a level
Level Modifier - Every level has a multiplier on the number of points you earned in that run. This means that harder missions earn you more points.
The points system is designed to encourage fast, stylish gameplay. This playstyle is rewarded with special abilities that allow for more ways to earn points. I am trying not to make this a grindy experience, especially for the demo. Currently, you can unlock all four abilities within around 30 minutes of gameplay.
I have plans to add more ways to spend points, like skins, toaster upgrades, and of course, more abilities.
Ok, now about the camera. The camera has been the most jankey and annoying part of this game. Many player complain about it for good reason. The most prominent problem is that when looking up from the ground, the toaster is in the way of the camera. A similar problem occurs when on the ceiling. I have added some mechanics to the camera that should make it easier for players to see where they are aiming. If there is an object very close below or above the toaster, the camera will move accordingly to give the player a better view. A few smaller changes were made on top of this. Hopefully this means players will be able to see better. The camera still gets buggy in enclosed spaces and tight corners, so this isn't the end of the camera changes.
Last update I forgot to talk about the toaster's health. You many have noticed that there is a "100 hp" in the top left corner. For a while, it never changed from 100 (unless you jumped into water). Now it does. Whenever you hit the ground too hard, you will take some damage. This is typically very small, from 1-3 damage per impact. In the demo, this does not present a serious challenge. However, in the larger levels, this impact damage will add up, and the player will need to play more skillfully. In addition, there will be enemies added soon. These enemies do not deal damage directly, but their attacks can throw the player pretty hard, and will be able to cause damage that way. Look out for that.
Well, that was a lot of updates. Thanks for all of your support so far, and sorry it took so long to get this one out! Let me know if you like the changes (and if you don't, also tell me that)!
Here is the full changelog for Demo 0.54:
Toastercide 0.54: 3/31/24
Basic Controller Support
Added Toast Mechanic
Added Dash, Faster Grapple, Teleport and Invincibility
Added Collision Damage
Added Sound Effects to collisions, toast uses, cable clicks, and bathtub explosions
Fixed Interpolation
Added Points System for customizations
Scaled Down All Systems, should result in better performance
Parameters for swinging rope changed
Camera will now move up if looking upwards and touching object below toaster
Camera will move down touching object above toaster
Changed Damage Values to reflect tangent velocity
Style Bonus Added: Added Speed Bonus points when not grappled